A Promise Is Kept
by skycloud86
Summary: Alex promised Sarah that he would visit at the weekend.
1. Saturday

**Author's Note - This story takes place on the Saturday after Day One and is a bridge story between Days One and Two. Alex Myers, Sarah Henderson and everyone else at CTU Chicago are my own creation. Anyone from CTU LA who may be mentioned is the property of Fox.**

Alex checked the bruise on his face in the car mirror. It was the last reminder of his car accident a few days ago, and he was more than glad to see that it had begun to fade away. Getting out of his car, he took a deep breath and looked around. He was back in his home city of Chicago, where he had gone to see his friends back at CTU Chicago just as he had promised, although he hadn't expected to return so soon. He had felt the need to leave Los Angeles for a few days, to take his mind off his sister and the events of the Tuesday that would forever scar his memory.

Knocking on the door, he hoped that Sarah would not immediately notice the bruise. As the door opened and Alex saw Sarah's big brown eyes, he couldn't help but grin broadly. As they embraced each other, Alex realised that Sarah was trying hard not to cry, and he had a good idea why. Nina had been a good friend of hers, and the events at CTULA had affected her badly. She knew that it was real and not a dream, but she would lie awake at night trying to think of a plausible reason why Nina would suddenly commit multiple acts of murder and treason.

"How have you been coping, Alex?", was Sarah's first question as they sat down in the living room.

"I don't know, to be honest. I mean, it's all been so strange these past few days", Alex replied. The past few days had indeed been very weird, and Alex had been waiting for it all to be revealed as a joke or a really unwelcome dream. As Sarah handed him a cup of coffee, he thanked her and sipped the hot drink. He didn't normally drink the stuff outside of work, but at that moment in time, what was work? Was it the same job he had had before all of this? Sarah looked at him, and noticed the bruise. Touching it gently, he looked up at her.

"You were lucky, Alex", she commented. She knew about the car accident, and had thanked God that he had come out relatively unscathed.

"Yeah, I just got a few cuts and bruises, nothing serious or permanent", he said in a rather matter of fact way.

"How do you feel about visiting CTU on Monday, Alex? They'll all love to see you again, if you want to?", Sarah asked him. Alex could tell that she really wanted him to visit his old friends at CTU again, and he thought that it couldn't do any harm.

"OK, sounds good", he replied. Monday would be a rather interesting day, he thought to himself as he took another mouthful of coffee.


	2. Sunday

It was a blustery Sunday afternoon and both Alex and Sarah had almost been blown over by the gusts. They were walking through the streets of Chicago, talking about old times and new times, wandering nowhere in particular except to get caught up in the living city that was Chicago.

"What do you plan to do, Alex? Are you gonna stay in LA?", Sarah asked him. If she was to be honest with herself, she kind of hoped he would return to Chicago, as she missed him and would welcome him back any day. Even so, she wanted him to do what he felt was right for himself, and if that meant staying in Los Angeles, then so be it.

"I dunno. I'm not ready to go back to work yet, but I think I want to stay in LA. I know there's gonna be a lot of bad memories there, but I feel like I need to stay there, to prove that my family isn't like Nina", he replied. Hoping that he would somehow cope, he planned to stay at CTULA for the foreseeable future. He just hoped that Nina's actions would not cause him any problems he didn't deserve. Sarah smiled at him and, for the first time, realised just how much had changed in the course of a week or so. Some of those changes were temporary, and would vanish soon enough. Others, however, were permanent, or at least long-term, and there was no telling just how bad those involved would be affected by such changes.

"How's Jack Bauer doing?", Sarah asked. Like everyone else at CTU Chicago, she had nothing but sympathy for the guy. He had been through Hell that day, and to finally kill the threat and find his wife dead, that must have been horrific.

"Not very well. He wants me to go and visit him sometime next week", Alex said. Jack had indeed asked him to visit, and Alex felt that he had to. He felt so sorry for Jack, but at the same time he felt guilty. It was his sister who had killed Teri, and if CTU had just looked after Teri, made sure she didn't wander off...

"Tell him that everyone at CTU Chicago is thinking of him and Kim", Sarah said.

"I will", Alex promised.

In Los Angeles, a tired and defeated Jack Bauer was finishing off another can of some crappy beer he couldn't pronounce the name of. He was slumped on a chair in the kitchen, staring aimlessly out of the window, at the garden which Teri had so lovingly nurtured. Violent, self-destructive thoughts would crowd his mind, and he would drink more alcohol to make them go away, but the drink just made them more vivid, more psychotic. Crushing the empty can and throwing it in the general direction of the bin, he sighed and stood up. He was about to walk to the fridge and get another can, when he felt dizzy. Grabbing hold of the counter, he tried in vain to hold on, but he soon lost to gravity and he went crashing to the floor. Although he was lying on cold linoleum, he began to get sleepy and nodded off where he laid.

Alex and Sarah were now sat on a bench, watching the world go by in a hurry. The conversation was light in mood, and they tried their best not to mention Nina, CTU or the events of the past week, which was easier said than done. Eventually, they decided to walk back to Sarah's apartment and, as the sky started to darken with the arrival of dusk, both were glad to have a friend standing beside them.

"Jack?", a concerned Tony asked, as he poked his head around the front door, which had been slightly ajar. Walking inside, he noticed a mop of blonde hair on the kitchen floor, and rushed towards it. Noticing the sleeping Jack on the floor, he debated whether or not to move Jack, or wake him up. Carefully, he lifted Jack up, his arms underneath Jack's, and somehow managed to move him to the nearest chair, where he gently lowered the sleeping man down. Sighing as he noticed the mess Jack had made, he began cleaning it up, making sure that he kept the noise to a minimum.


	3. Monday

Monday afternoon had arrived, and for the first time ever, Alex dreaded the thought of going to CTU Chicago, but was also looking forward to seeing friends again. He decided to not let his anxiety beat him, though, and as he got into Sarah's car, he tried to remember the happier times he associated with people from CTU Chicago.

Tony had been at Jack's house all night, looking after his drunken friend and, as Kim entered the house after spending the weekend at her Aunt Carol's, the first thing she noticed were the two men fast asleep in the living room.

"Tony?", she spoke quietly, as she nudged his shoulder. Tony mumbled incoherently for a second, before realising where he was and why he was there. Looking up at Kim, he cleared his throat.

"Kim? What time is it?", he enquired, although he could guess that it was Monday morning from the sunlight that managed to slip in through the crack between the curtains.

"It's 10.30am, Tony. Is Dad OK?", she asked, concerned for her father.

"Yeah, he's fine. Kim, I think we need to talk about your father", Tony spoke softly.

"If it's about the drinking, I already know. I've tried to get him to stop, but he doesn't listen", Kim replied, her voice breaking slightly.

"Kim, we can help him get through this, OK? Noone is going to let you or your father down, not after what happened", he assured her.

As they neared the entrance to CTU, Alex stopped for a moment and appeared tense. It was obvious to Sarah that he was hiding a lot of anxiety and she tried to assure him that it would be OK.

"Alex, it's going to be fine. noone blames you for what Nina did, and you should never let yourself believe otherwise", she told him. Alex took a deep breath and smiled at her.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right, Sarah. Come on, let's go in", he replied. Walking into the building was a surreal event for Alex, and he wondered if it was all really happening. Every single pair of eyes in the room seemed to gaze at him, and he began to feel like a museum exhibit. He was relieved when he passed the bullpen, and made his way to the office of the Special Agent in Charge, Josh Papierski. He knocked on the door and walked inside.

"Alex! It's great to see you!", Josh beamed as he stood up to greet Alex, who smiled at him.

"It's great to see you too, Josh", he replied. Josh had been the SAIC at CTU Chicago since before Alex had even joined CTU, and he was both good at his job and popular.

"People here have been very concerned about what happened last Tuesday, Alex", Josh told him, a sympathetic look on his face.

"We both had a bad day last Tuesday, though, didn't we?", Alex replied, referring to Henry's murder. He had respected and liked Henry a lot, and his untimely and unjust demise could not have come at a worse time. Josh nodded sadly. Henry had been like a brother to him, and now that he was dead, Josh felt like he was becoming more isolated from the world. If it weren't for people like Sarah, he would probably have left CTU for good by now.

Jack was now awake, and drinking coffee slowly. He could hardly open his eyes without the hangover punishing him, and he just wanted to get back to sleep. He thanked Tony for his help and, after Tony had left to go to work, he had talked to Kim for a while. He knew that his developing drinking problem was hurting her, and that just made things worse. Even so, the promise of the pain being dulled was too great for Jack to turn down, and he had been drunk almost every day for almost a week. Kim, who was sat near him and looking at her father with damp eyes, tried to get through to him.

"Dad, you have got to stop this. Driving yourself into an early grave won't help bring Mom back", she pleaded with him. Over the past week, she had had to grow up fast and lose the last few years of her childhood. Jack smiled at her and with eyes full of pain, he replied.

"I will soon, honey, I will", although he himself wasn't sure if he could keep that promise or not.

Alex was surprised by how soon he felt back at home. It was almost as if he was working at CTU Chicago again, and the events of the past week were just a disturbing daydream to be forgotten about. He looked over at Sarah and smiled. She had been one of his best and closest friends at CTU Chicago, adn she still was, and Alex was glad that he had had a chance to come and visit her, keeping the promise he made to her on that tragic tuesday.


End file.
